Consultation directions paper Developing South Australia’s copper strategy www.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au Core Samples - OZ Minerals We invite your ideas The South Australian Government hosted a Copper Summit in May 2015, where more than 100 people from industry, research institutions and government contributed their ideas to grow South Australia’s copper industry. This directions paper gives you the chance to have your say and help us develop a Copper Strategy for South Australia. We seek your input on the proposed focus areas for the strategy and your ideas on the questions posed in the orange boxes throughout the document. You can provide feedback either through the Copper Strategy website at minerals.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/copperstrategy, the YourSAy website or via email [email protected] until 23 October 2015. Cover image: Stacked copper cathode at Olympic Dam Directions for a comprehensive South Australian copper strategy Minister’s foreword As a significant copper producer, South Australia To ensure the success of a long-term strategy, we has a strong foundation on which to build a need your input. While this directions paper pulls reputation as a major participant in the international together the key themes that emerged from this copper industry. year’s Copper Summit, it is your feedback that will help shape the final design of the strategy. A step-change in production could lead to substantial economic growth and improved We need your views on the challenges, strengths, standards of living for South Australia and the nation impediments and opportunities and the best way as a whole, and make our world more energy- we can strike ahead together to create new jobs, efficient and environmentally sustainable. investment and link South Australia into the global supply chain for the copper industry. Copper has a key role to play in the 21st century. Its efficiency will mean more sustainable construction South Australia’s geology offers us unique in a rapidly urbanising world, helping to mitigate the advantages, placing us to meet long-term demand effects of climate change. for copper from the economic powerhouses of Asia. We have a highly-skilled workforce, and our South Australia has the resources and the academic institutions are on the forefront of research expertise to unlock the full potential of our assets. and development. A comprehensive copper strategy will help clear a pathway through the challenges faced by the How we play to those advantages will be a measure industry to reach a shared objective that supports of this state’s capacity to deliver on the opportunities new jobs and investment. provided by our geology and geography. I look forward to receiving your suggestions on the We have set an ambitious target to lift Australia ways we can advance together to confirm to third place in the ranking of world copper South Australia’s global reputation as a major producers. It is my hope that this objective will focus copper producer. government and its agencies at all levels, explorers, producers, the wider resources industry, Aboriginal communities, and the South Australian community towards a common goal. Increased copper production is a springboard that Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP will allow our resource companies, service suppliers Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy and research institutions to not only be world-class, but to become world-renowned. To achieve our ambitions, government, industry and the community will need to work collaboratively to drive down costs for exploration and production. Shared infrastructure is part of that story, but so too is commercialising the research carried out in our universities. 1 Our Copper Belt A foreword by Terry Burgess Having created significant historic, economic and As such, South Australia’s copper and by-product social benefit to the state, the South Australian endowment offers unique opportunities for the Copper Belt continues to generate value, offering state and provides a basis for significant future a vast, untapped potential. growth. This will benefit the broader community as well as resource companies, industry service The state is already host to one world-class asset providers and the skilled South Australian workforce, at Olympic Dam. Our current quest for exploration including in the regional areas of the state. in the Copper Belt is to fill the ’discovery gap’ by locating and developing additional large copper ore The copper industry has made significant advances bodies, and continuing to discover deposits, such in building good working relationships with as Khamsin, that could potentially contribute to our traditional owners and Aboriginal communities, economic prosperity. recognising the enduring link to country and providing opportunities for employment, training The area for exploration is extensive, and the and business partnerships. prospective rocks are generally buried below thick cover. To address these challenges, we need to A comprehensive, long-term copper strategy, utilise the skills and expertise of our geoscientists, produced in collaboration with stakeholders in the researchers and technical engineers to deliver future wider resources sector, will create the best technical economically viable discoveries. and business environment for a continued positive copper future for South Australia. Copper is a key metal for the future, offering major advantages for new and developing technologies. Success of this initiative will increase the Many of these newer technologies have a higher attractiveness of the South Australian Copper unit requirement of copper compared with historical Belt both regionally and internationally, which will technologies – for example, in energy generation encourage additional investment and new investors (wind and solar) and in vehicles (hybrids and in exploration, development, operations and electric) – and therefore offer incremental increases support services. in demand. Projections of demand for copper clearly indicate that increasing urbanisation in key markets will result in a future deficit, with supply affected by decreasing production from existing mines and variable global investment in exploration and mine development. Terry Burgess President, SA Chamber of Mines and Energy, South Australia’s Copper Belt ore bodies also offer Member of the Economic Development Board valuable by-products, such as gold and uranium, as of South Australia, well as the unexploited potential of rare earth metals. South Australian Copper Summit 2 CONSULTATION DIRECTIONS PAPER DEVELOPING SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S COPPER STRATEGY Olympic Dam Copper is a key metal for the future, offering major advantages for new and developing technologies. 33 South Australian Copper Summit South Australia once produced 10 per cent of the world’s copper from the Burra Monster Mine. Now we have just three major producers, exporting on average about 300,000 tonnes, or around 30 per cent of Australia’s copper exports, despite hosting about 68 per cent of the nation’s known copper resource. Occupying a large portion of central South Australia, the geologically significant Gawler Craton contains one of the world’s largest ore bodies at Olympic Dam and a host of other significant deposits, including Prominent Hill, formed around 1590 million years ago. This Copper Belt extends across large parts of South Australia, including the central and eastern Gawler Craton and the Curnamona Province. The Gawler Craton and other copper ore bodies fall within areas of the state where native title rights and interests exist or might still exist, and where there are significant cultural heritage sites. Integral to the success of the Copper Strategy will be the involvement of Aboriginal people to help develop an appropriate shared, common understanding of the significance of the area to secure the wellbeing of all South Australians and that provides a basis for building and maintaining constructive relationships between all stakeholders. Our history and geology suggest South Australia can do more to leverage the potential of its copper resources into increased investment and job creation to support sustained economic growth. With that in mind, the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis convened a South Australian Copper Summit in May 2015 to gauge the industry’s support for a comprehensive strategy to unlock the state’s potential as a world-class producer and exporter. The summit provided a forum to discuss the challenges, opportunities and actions needed to raise South Australia’s total copper production to support Australia becoming the world’s third largest copper producer. The challenge was set: triple the state’s annual copper production to one million tonnes per year by 2030 to leapfrog Australia into the third ranked position in the world. The 106 leaders from the mineral resources and services industries, traditional landowners, research institutions and government agencies attending the summit gave in principle support for this ambitious, nation-building target. They also endorsed the South Australian Government’s strategic role in creating a business and social environment that allows our copper producers, explorers and project developers to work with the community and traditional landowners to close the gap. The Department of State Development was set the task of taking the feedback from the summit and articulating those shared views into this directions paper, which will guide the development of the comprehensive Copper Strategy